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The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

The Fifth Floor: Carnival and Crisis in Caracas

Carnival and Crisis in Caracas

07/03/2014

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Carnival and Crisis in Caracas

How a divided Venezuela is dealing with both protesters and parties on the streets

David Amanor showcases global stories from the Fifth Floor - home to the BBC’s 27 Language Services.

How do you stage a carnival in Caracas when the city has been having street protests for more than three weeks? And one year on from his death, it seems that Hugo Chavez still watches over Venezuela - his picture is on street corners, in cafes, on t-shirts, and even earrings. Irene Caselli reports on an ongoing crisis, violence, carnival and the commemoration of the death of a man who - whichever side you are on - changed Venezuela's history for good. 

Chechen Music
The Pankisi Gorge sits in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. It has about 15,000 ethnic Chechen residents, whose ancestors migrated there in the 18th Century, and who maintain a strong musical heritage. BBC Arabic's Murad Shishani - a Chechen from Jordan - travelled to Pankisi to talk to the Chechen musicians about the way their dramatic landscape and turbulent history is interwoven into the music they make. 

Online Greatest Hits
Fifi Haroon gives the low down on the top-hitting stories across the Language Service websites, including an Iranian detective parrot and a smarty-pants Japanese robot.

Turkey's TV soaps
Politics is increasingly finding its way into Turkish TV drama. This week a new soap opera "Kaizilelma" (Red Apple) is tackling the reports of plots to assassinate Prime Minister Erdogan. So how has the political crisis in Turkey influenced drama makers who try to imitate issues widely debated in society?  With BBC Arabic's Dalia Haidar and Cagil Kasapoglu from the Turkish Service.

Stories from the Frontline: Crimea
"'Don't move or I'll shoot!' someone shouts from the bushes. Slowly, I turn my head and see a gun fitted with a silencer, pointing at me." BBC Russian's Olga Ivshina describes a tense stand off with Russian-speaking troops in Crimea.

A Crash Course in Putinese
President Putin had had very little to say in public about the Crimean crisis until Tuesday this week when he gathered together journalists in the Kremlin to share his views. His words were carefully dissected and translated - because Putin has something of a unique style. He's a fan of colourful language, street speak and criminal slang which gave some translators something of a headache. BBC Russian's Alexander Kan brings us his interpretation of 'Putinese'.

Understanding the Oligarchy
So what's the difference between a Russian oligarch and a Ukrainian oligarch? Irena Taranyuk and Masha Alexandrova give a rundown of all you wanted to know about the Eastern European business elite but were afraid to ask - and explain why understanding the oligarchs is key to deciphering the current crisis in Ukraine.

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